Kurviger - Awesome at Finding Curves; Creating & Sharing Tracks and/or Routes

[JerryG]

Kurviger means Curvier in German, it comes from the land where all our BMWs are conceived.
(I can't say born because the 310 series is born in India and one of my three BMWs is a G310GS.)
This is intended to be an introduction for those unfamiliar with Kurviger and a place for Kurviger users to help each other.
I am just a Kurviger user; I have no other association with Kurviger.

App warning: The Kurviger App is currently only available on Android phones, but they've been working on an iPhone App for about a year now and just recently sent out an "almost there" announcement. There is a Scenic App available on iPhones and Kurviger does have a Send to Scenic option under Share Link under Export.

You're probably saying, "Yet Another &%^! Nav App". I said the same at first, but now it's my default for on-road rides (Gaia is my default for off-road rides).

Kurviger's uniqueness includes...
- Letting you select among (1) Straight, (2) Fastest Route, (3) Fast and Curvy; (4) Curvy, (5) and Extra Curvy. Use of this feature enables you discover curvy roads where you've never been. I've used it to create long multi-state routes that have been awesome.
- Letting you build a single route or track that has any combination of the above curvy modes. With Kurviger, you can use any mode between any two points. For example, A to B can be Fastest to get through a city, while B to C can be Fast and Curvy for making time with a bit of fun, C to D can be Curvy, D to E can be Extra Curvy, and then E to F can be Fastest to get you home quickly after all the fun. Straight mode is for when you know there is a way to get between two points, but the underlying database of roads says there isn't; simply use Straight to connect the two points and find your own way between them. Once you get to the end of the Straight segment, the route or track continues on via whatever curvy mode the next segment is set to.
- Letting you simultaneously display all the curvy modes between two points in the App so you can select which to take as you reach each point.
- Letting you very quickly create a new route by simply right clicking on a point and selecting "Extend Route To" repeatedly until the route reaches your destination. If the curvy mode takes you somewhere you don't want to go (or you want to explore an specific area), right click somewhere in the middle of where you want the route to go and select "Set as Waypoint" if you want Kurviger to announce that point as you approach it and "Set as Shaping Point" if you don't want Kurviger to announce that point as you approach it.

The link below is a Kurviger example I created that includes four of my favorite semi-local roads (Buffalo Creek Shoals Road, Green River Cove Road, Skyuka Mountain Road, and White Oak Mountain Road). I've crafted this example to use different curvy modes in a few places. If you look at the route under the Plan tab, you can pull down "Curvature" to see that I selected "Extra Curvy" for the default curvy mode of this route, but you can see below that that I have selected Fastest from Home to Point 2, Curvy from Point 3 to Point 5, then the route follows the Extra Curvy default from Point 5 to Point 17 where I select Fastest again. Incidentally, Home in this case is the Starbucks where our local riding group, the Sons and Daughters of Arthritis, meets for our weekly Wednesday Ride.

Link to Kurviger Sample: https://kurv.gr/Ucb8x

The attached PDF is a screenshot of the above Kurviger Sample.

 

[globalrider]

Downloaded it and gave it a try.

I do not know what map source they are using, but when I entered two towns, it took me into the middle of the woods with nothing there in the total opposite direction. Yet using Google Maps, it wasn't an issue.

 

[bigjohnsd]

"We" I have a friend who swears by this APP, used Kurvegiver on his phone to plan our daily riding routes in the Texas Hill Country last month. We took roads, intersections, towns, etc from the Butler map and used them in developing our route. He transferred the route to his Garmin XT and then we shared via Bluetooth to another XT, a NAV 6, and an older Garmin (396?).

In general, it worked pretty well, though one day it missed a whole section of our intended route and we all ended up with a 25-mile straight line "cross country".

Beats the heck out of my experience with other Garmin-related route planning software. YRMV

 

[JerryG]

Downloaded it and gave it a try.

I do not know what map source they are using, but when I entered two towns, it took me into the middle of the woods with nothing there in the total opposite direction. Yet using Google Maps, it wasn't an issue.

A log depends upon your Curvature setting(s) and your Avoidance on/off/strength settings. In the picture below, the Curvature pull down sets the default Curvature setting for the whole route. You can override this default between any two points by selecting a different curvature icon from among the icons between those two points. The Avoidance setting pull down is where you can turn either turn avoidance rules on/off or set their strength from 1-5 with 5 being the strongest avoidance setting.

I'd be glad to look over your specific case if you share your route. Since we can't upload .kurviger and .gpx files here (?), you can do this by going to the export page, selecting the "Share link" button, and copy/pasting the link here. Note: Sharing Kurviger routes this way will sometimes produces different routes for those with a subscription vs those without. Sharing .kurviger or .gpx files is better because everyone gets exactly the same route/track no matter their subscription status.

Default Curvature vs point-to-point Curvature settings...

Avoidance settings...

Export via Share link...

 

[JerryG]

In general, it worked pretty well, though one day it missed a whole section of our intended route and we all ended up with a 25-mile straight line "cross country".

The only way to get a straight line cross country (that I know of) is to select the Straight line (beeline) curvature option between two points. The first picture below shows where I did this in Plan (the highlighted bird symbol). The second picture shows what it looks like on the map. The red dashed line shows what the track looked like before I changed the route by selecting Straight line. Once I save or export the new route as a link, track, or route, that old dashed red line is replaced by a new dashed red line that follows the new route. This helps you see what your changes are doing as you make them.

The red dashed line is actually the track. If you want to import just a track, without having Kurviger calculate a route for it, you can do this by unselecting "Use to calculate a route" option under Import. See third picture below.

 

[globalrider]

A log depends upon your Curvature setting(s) and your Avoidance on/off/strength settings.

This has nothing to do with that. When you pick a start and end point it should take you there. See Renfrew at the bottom right of that map. Curviger picked some end point where there is absolutely nothing. The problem lies with OpenStreetMaps. I just did another route from Renfrew to some other town. Same thing. It starts off in the middle of the woods (I can hear Dueling Banjos from Deliverance) to the town I entered.

 

[JerryG]

This has nothing to do with that. When you pick a start and end point it should take you there. See Renfrew at the bottom right of that map. Curviger picked some end point where there is absolutely nothing. The problem lies with OpenStreetMaps. I just did another route from Renfrew to some other town. Same thing. It starts off in the middle of the woods (I can hear Dueling Banjos from Deliverance) to the town I entered.

Yep, that's a database problem, not a Kurviger problem. When I mapped "Raglan Street North, K7V 1P5, Renfrew, Ontario, Canada", Kurviger mapped it perfectly. That's how I usually work around map database problems like this. Likely OpenStreetMaps as you say. I've corrected a few streets in OpenStreetMaps, but I wouldn't try to correct the location of an entire town unless it was my town or a location I used often.

 

[globalrider]

Yep, that's a database problem, not a Kurviger problem.

Got that sorted out after posting to the Kurviger forum. Linux User (Kurvinado) posted the following...

I think the GraphHopper guys (which shows the incorrect position of Renfrew) had to much Augustiner Edelstoff beer when they posted the location.

OpenRouteService works.

 

[JerryG]

I learned something; cool. Not about the beer thing, I've known about that forever: My last name is Glasow; my family immigrated from Glasow, Germany, after the Prussian War because they knew WW1 was inevitable. Beer is in our DNA. Thanks.